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It’s our ideas people who deserve reward

Published at 11:29, Thursday, 03 May 2012

I was surprised to be missed off The Sunday Times Rich List this year – again! I do like to keep my vast wealth private, so I can continue to walk among my people and carry out my good deeds without too much publicity.

Who am I kidding?

In a week that saw the country slip into a double-dip recession, the number of poor souls in our area dragging themselves along to food banks for handouts quadrupling and new figures that show nearly 70 firms are collapsing every day – the largest number for two years as banks continue to refuse to lend – the rich list told us there had been a rise in the number of billionaires in this country.

Our little island is now home to 77 billionaires in all, compared with just 53 in 2010.

My first thought as I rummaged through the list of those with too much money and not enough chin was why so much is owned by so few and how unnecessary it is for any one person to have so much wealth.

Then I realised that despite this wealth, their lives are so empty and aimless that they justify themselves by owning mega-super-yachts or building a ridiculous monument to their outrageous wealth.

Then I noticed that most of our shameful inequality is imported; that many of those in the mega-wealth bracket are foreign nationals who have made at least one of their homes in this country.